{"id":247,"date":"2007-10-11T15:17:46","date_gmt":"2007-10-11T19:17:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2007\/10\/11\/food_miles\/"},"modified":"2008-04-01T16:57:58","modified_gmt":"2008-04-01T21:57:58","slug":"food_miles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2007\/10\/11\/food_miles\/","title":{"rendered":"Food Miles: Is Local Always Better?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is Part 3 of a three-part series on Food and Farming<\/b>.<\/i><\/p>\n

1. Increased CO2<\/sub> and Food Quality<\/a>
\n2. Farm Animals and Methane<\/a>
\n3. “Food Mile” Complexities<\/i><\/p>\n

The author of today’s post, Sheryl Canter, is an Online Writer and Editorial Manager at Environmental Defense.<\/i><\/p>\n

When it’s apple season here in New York and the green markets are overflowing, for a store to ship in apples from Washington State or New Zealand burns fuel for no good reason. Local food is fresher, tastes better, and supports the community. And locally produced food often results in lower greenhouse gas emissions – but not always<\/i>. The greenhouse gas calculation is complicated, and you can’t assume that if a crop is produced locally, greenhouse gas emissions are lower.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For starters, the term "food mile" is itself problematic. A mile travelled by a large truck full of groceries is not the same as a mile travelled by a mini-van carrying a crate of carrots. A report published by DEFRA [PDF]<\/a>, Britain’s environment and farming ministry, says it’s more useful to think in terms of "food-vehicle miles" (the miles travelled by vehicles carrying food) and food-tonne miles (which considers the tonnage being carried).<\/p>\n

The DEFRA report contains several counterintuitive findings:<\/p>\n